JPH09294709A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display the optical image, which is caught by plural objective optical systems in different view directions, of a part to be examined on an image pickup device to observe easily and exactly. SOLUTION: An upper view objective optical system 13 arranged at an endoscope is an optical system for observing the direction orthogonal to the optical axis of a direct view objective optical system. Therefore, a prism 16 is provided for refracting the optical axis so as to form the optical image, which is made incident from the side of a top end constitutive part, of the part to be examined on the image pickup plane of a CCD 15. This prism 16 is constituted for reflecting light twice so that the optical image of the part to be examined caught by the direct view objective optical system can be formed on the image pickup plane of the CCD 15 in the state of a front side image and similarly, the optical image of the part to be examined made incident from the side of the top end constitutive part can be formed in the area corresponding to the upper view objective optical system 13 on the image pickup plane of the CCD 15 in the state of a front side image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope provided with one solid-state image pickup device for a plurality of objective optical systems having different visual field directions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a slender insertion portion is inserted into a body cavity so that the inside of the body cavity can be observed bloodlessly, a medical endoscope, a pipe of a machine and a chemical plant, or a machine. Non-destructive observation and inspection industrial endoscopes are widely used.

These endoscopes have a CC on the tip side of the insertion section.
There is an electronic endoscope provided with a solid-state image sensor such as D. This electronic endoscope photoelectrically converts an optical image formed on a solid-state image sensor through an objective optical system into an electric signal, outputs the electric signal obtained by the solid-state image sensor to a signal processing means, and outputs the signal. The image signal generated by the processing means is output on the monitor screen so that the endoscopic observation image can be observed.

For example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-40183, one CCD and a plurality of objective optical systems are arranged on the distal end side of the insertion portion of the endoscope, and different areas on the image pickup surface of the CCD. , An optical image of the region to be inspected captured through the plurality of objective optical systems is formed, and an electric signal obtained by photoelectric conversion by this CCD is generated into an image signal, and then the screen of the TV monitor is displayed all at once. There is disclosed a technique in which by projecting the image on the upper side or the like, electric image processing is not required, the electric circuit configuration is simplified, and the cost of the endoscope apparatus is reduced. Further, this publication discloses a technique for preventing the positional relationship between the region to be inspected and the endoscopic observation image and the sense of direction from being disturbed.

[0005]

However, in the above Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-40183, a direct-view image or a side-view image captured by an objective optical system is transferred to a CCD via a mirror or a trapezoidal prism provided in the objective optical system. Since the image is guided to the image pickup surface of, the positional relationship between the region to be inspected and the endoscopic observation image changes, and the electrical signal output from the CCD is simply generated as an image signal by the signal processing device. When displayed on a TV monitor or the like which is an output device, the endoscopic observation image displayed on this TV monitor becomes a back image of the site to be examined.
Further, in order to eliminate this, it is necessary to provide a back image correction circuit for electrically converting a back image into a front image in the signal processing device, but by providing this back image correction circuit, The electric circuit in the signal processing device becomes complicated, which increases the cost of the endoscope device.

Further, in the above publication, since the CCD is arranged in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the endoscope, there is a problem that the tip side of the insertion portion of the endoscope having the CCD mounted therein has a large diameter.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an endoscope that makes it possible to accurately and easily observe an optical image of a region to be examined captured by a plurality of objective optical systems having different visual field directions. Is intended for.

[0008]

The endoscope of the present invention comprises a plurality of objective optical systems having different visual field directions, and a single solid body on which optical images of a region to be examined captured by the plurality of objective optical systems are formed. An endoscope in which an image pickup device is provided on the distal end side of an insertion portion, and an optical image of a site to be examined is displayed on an image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup device.
Each objective optical system is configured so as to form an image in the form of a surface image, and a plurality of surface images formed on the solid-state image sensor are simultaneously displayed on the output device.

According to this structure, the optical image of the surface image of the region to be inspected formed on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup device through the objective optical systems in the plural visual field directions is displayed on the output device such as a TV monitor. Thereby, it is possible to accurately observe the site to be inspected and improve the usability when using the endoscope.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 7 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a view showing an outer appearance of an endoscope, FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion A in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an arrow X in FIG. FIG. 4 is a view seen from the side, FIG. 4 is a view seen from the arrow Y side in FIG.
5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the layout of the direct-viewing objective optical system and the upward-viewing objective optical system, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the configuration of the upward-viewing objective optical system, and FIG. 7 shows the operation of the endoscope. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope 1 according to the present embodiment.
Is an electronic endoscope (hereinafter referred to as an endoscope) having a slender and flexible insertion portion 2 with a solid-state image pickup device such as a CCD, and an operating portion 3 is provided at a proximal end of the insertion portion 2. Is provided,
A universal cord 4 having a built-in light guide cable (not shown) for transmitting illumination light and a signal cable extends from a side portion of the operation portion 3.

The insertion portion 2 is formed by connecting a tip forming portion 5, a bending portion 6 connecting a plurality of bending pieces and a flexible portion 7 in series from the distal end side, and the operating portion 3 By operating the bending operation knob 8 provided in the, the bending portion 6 can be bent in a desired direction to move the tip forming portion 5 vertically and horizontally.

A light source device (not shown) having a built-in light source for supplying illumination light is provided at an end of the universal cord 4.
A detachable connector and a detachable connector are provided in a signal processing device that generates an electric signal output from the CCD as an image signal and supplies the image signal to an output device such as a TV monitor.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the endoscope 1
A direct-viewing objective optical system 11 which is an optical system formed by arranging a plurality of optical members for obtaining a front-view image of the endoscope 1 in the longitudinal direction and a longitudinal direction of the endoscope. A front illumination optical system 12 that illuminates the front, and an upper-view objective optical system 13 and an endoscope that are optical systems formed by a plurality of optical members that cross the longitudinal direction of the endoscope 1 and obtain, for example, an upper side-view image. Upper illumination optical system 1 for illuminating a direction intersecting with the longitudinal direction of 1
4 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 5, the direct-view objective optical system 11 is used.
Optical axis 11a and the optical axis 13a of the upper-view objective optical system 13
Are arranged in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the endoscope 1,
At the image forming positions of the direct-view objective optical system 11 and the upward-view objective optical system 13, a CCD 15 for photoelectrically converting an optical image captured by each objective optical system into an electric signal is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the endoscope 1. One is provided to do so.

The optical image of the region to be examined captured by the direct-viewing objective optical system 11 is not reflected inside the objective optical system even once, and is covered in a region corresponding to the direct-viewing objective optical system 11 on the image pickup surface of the CCD 15. An optical image of the inspection site is formed in the state of the front image.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, the upper-view objective optical system 13 is an optical system for observing a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the direct-view objective optical system 11. Therefore, the optical axis of the upper-view objective optical system 13 is refracted in order to form an optical image of the region to be inspected, which is incident from the side of the distal end forming portion 5 of the endoscope 1, on the image pickup surface of the CCD 15. A prism 16 is provided to allow the prism 16 to move.

In the same way as the optical image of the region to be inspected captured by the direct-viewing objective optical system 11 is formed on the image pickup surface of the CCD 15 in the form of a surface image, the prism 16 forms the front end forming portion of the endoscope 1. The optical image of the region to be inspected incident from above 5 is CCD1.
It is configured to reflect twice so as to form a surface image in a region corresponding to the upper objective optical system 13 on the image pickup surface of No. 5.

Then, the optical image in the state of the surface image of the region to be inspected, which has passed through the direct-viewing objective optical system 11 and the upward-viewing objective optical system 13 and is imaged on each area of the image pickup surface of the CCD 15, is formed by the CCD 15. After being photoelectrically converted into an electric signal, the signal is transmitted to a signal processing device (not shown) to be generated as an erect image video signal, and an erect image of an endoscopic observation image is displayed on a TV monitor, which will be described later, which is an output device. Is displayed.

Here, the endoscope observation image obtained by the endoscope 1 configured as described above will be specifically described. When the endoscope 1 is faced to the front of a person as shown in FIG. 7 (A) to obtain an endoscopic observation image, as shown in FIG. 7 (B), the right side of the screen of the TV monitor 20 which is an output device. Surface 20R
An endoscopic observation image of the erect image of the whole person captured by the direct-viewing objective optical system 11 is displayed on the left side of the screen of the person on the left side 20L of the screen. An endoscopic observation image of an upright surface image that captures a part is displayed.

At this time, the visual field range of the direct-viewing objective optical system 11 and the visual field range of the upper-viewing objective optical system 13 shown in FIG. 7A intersect at a point P shown in FIG. Therefore, the endoscopic observation images displayed on the screen left side surface 20L and the screen right side surface 20R of the TV monitor 20 have continuity as shown by the waveform arrows in FIG. 7B. It becomes an image observed with an endoscope.

When setting the position of the point P, by setting the position of the point P outside the near point within the depth of field, it is easier to confirm the region to be examined and the effect of overlapping the fields of view. Easy to obtain.

For example, in an endoscope used in the industrial field, the inside of the pipe may be inspected for cracks or microscopic defects, especially on the side wall. When performing such an inspection,
As described above, the endoscope including the direct-viewing objective optical system and the upward-viewing objective optical system is used. Then, insert the endoscope into the pipe, identify the orientation and damage to the inside of the pipe while observing the endoscopic observation image obtained with the direct-view objective optical system. Carefully inspect and observe the damage.

That is, the observer first pays attention to the endoscopic observation image obtained by the direct-viewing objective optical system from the two endoscopic observation images displayed on the screen of the TV monitor, and then looks upward. Focus on the endoscopic observation image obtained with the objective optical system. At this time, since the field-of-view ranges of the direct-viewing objective optical system and the upper-viewing objective optical system overlap, there is continuity between the endoscopic observation image obtained by the direct-viewing objective optical system and the upper-viewing objective optical system. Therefore, it is possible to smoothly shift from the observation target portion specified by the direct-viewing objective optical system to the endoscopic observation image captured by the upper-viewing objective optical system.

As described above, an optical image of the site to be examined captured by the plurality of objective optical systems having different visual field directions provided on the distal end side of the insertion portion of the endoscope is formed on the image pickup surface of the CCD in the form of a front image. By configuring each objective optical system as described above and displaying the surface image formed on the image pickup surface of the CCD as an erect image on the output device all at once, it is possible to more accurately observe the site to be examined. Workability and usability when using an endoscope are improved.

When an electric signal photoelectrically converted by the CCD is generated as an image signal by a signal processing device, the CCD is used.
Since the image formed on the imaging surface of is a front image, a back image correction circuit for electrically converting a back image into a front image is not required in the signal processing device, and the electric circuit can be simplified. Can be planned. This makes it possible to reduce the cost of the entire endoscope apparatus.

Further, by providing the endoscope with the direct-viewing objective optical system and the upward-viewing objective optical system, a pseudo wide angle can be achieved, and the observation visual field and the upward-viewing objective optical system of the direct-viewing objective optical system can be achieved. Since the field of view of the system is crossed to create a field of view overlap, the continuity of the endoscopic observation images displayed on the output device becomes clear, facilitating the positional relationship and sense of direction of the site to be examined. You can figure it out. As a result, the work of handling the endoscope is further facilitated and the usability is greatly improved.

Further, since the CCD for converting the optical image of the region to be examined captured by the plurality of objective optical systems into an electric signal is arranged so as to be orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the endoscope, the endoscope is inserted. The diameter of the part can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the plurality of objective optical systems provided in the endoscope are described as two optical systems, the direct-viewing objective optical system and the upward-viewing objective optical system. The objective optical system is not limited to the above, but if the objective optical system is configured to form an optical image of the region to be inspected on the image pickup surface of the CCD, a side-view objective optical system or a perspective objective optical system can be used. It may be. Further, three or four or more objective optical systems may be provided, and for example, the visual field direction may be configured so as to face four directions of up, down, left and right. In these cases, by constructing the objective optical systems so that their visual field ranges overlap, C
When the optical image formed on the image pickup surface of the CD is displayed on the output device, the visual field relationship between the objective optical systems can be easily grasped.

8 to 11 relate to the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 8 is a sectional view for explaining the schematic constitution of the distal end side of the insertion portion of the endoscope, and FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram until the image is formed on the image pickup surface of the CCD through the system.
FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the state of the optical image formed on the image pickup surface of the CD and the display state on the TV monitor, and FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram specifically showing the operation of the endoscope.

As shown in FIG. 8, a direct-viewing objective optical system 21 and a side-viewing objective optical system 23 are provided inside the distal end forming portion 5 forming the distal end side of the insertion portion 2 of the endoscope 1. And the optical image of the site to be examined captured by each objective optical system is CC
An image is formed on each area of the image pickup surface of D25.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 9 (B), the optical image of the region to be inspected captured by the direct-viewing objective optical system 21 is not reflected in the optical system, but the direct-viewing objective optical system 21 of the image pickup surface of the CCD 25. Is imaged as a surface image in the area corresponding to. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9 (A), the side-view objective optical system 23
The optical image of the region to be inspected captured by is reflected twice by the prism 26 and is formed as a surface image on the area corresponding to the side-viewing objective optical system 23 on the image pickup surface of the CCD 25.

That is, the region to be inspected S1 observed by the side-view objective optical system 23 orthogonal to each other in the plane perpendicular to the optical axis.
S2 and the site to be examined D observed by the direct-viewing objective optical system 21
The optical images of 1 and D2 are formed on the areas of the image pickup surface of the CCD 25 corresponding to the respective objective optical systems.

At this time, however, as shown in FIG. 10 (A), the optical image of the site to be inspected S1 and S2 and the site to be inspected D1, which are formed as a surface image on a predetermined area of the image pickup surface of the CCD 25.
The optical image of D2 is an inverted image. Therefore, this C
If the image is displayed on the screen of the TV monitor as the endoscope observation image in the state where the image is formed on the image pickup surface of the CD 25, the endoscopic observation image of the region to be examined becomes an inverted image. Therefore, the optical image formed on the image pickup surface of the CCD 25 is
It is rotated once to be displayed on the screen of the TV monitor, and the top and bottom of the site to be examined and the endoscopic observation image displayed on the TV monitor are aligned.

Further, an electric memory is used to associate the region to be examined with the endoscopic observation image displayed on the TV monitor. That is, the direct-view image captured by the direct-view objective optical system and the side-view image captured by the upper-view objective optical system are independently captured, and the direct-view image and the upper-side image are exchanged as shown in FIG. 10C. By displaying on the TV monitor 20 by using the display device, the region to be inspected and the image observed by the endoscope are associated with each other, and the usability of the endoscope is significantly improved.

That is, when observing a person with the endoscope 1 as shown in FIG. 11 (A), the CCD output is rotated by 180 degrees and the endoscopic observation image of the site to be examined is displayed on the TV monitor 20. Then, as shown in FIG. 11B, the display positions of the endoscopic observation image captured by the direct-viewing objective optical system and the endoscopic observation image captured by the upward-viewing objective optical system are interchanged.
Therefore, an image is captured by using an electric memory, and the direct-view image and the side-view image are exchanged and displayed on a TV monitor as shown in FIG.
Correspondence with the endoscopic observation image displayed on the monitor,
The same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

FIG. 12 is another conceptual diagram showing a region to be inspected according to the third embodiment of the present invention until an image is formed on the image pickup surface of the CCD through the objective optical system.

As shown in FIG. 12, the endoscope 1 according to the present embodiment.
Is constructed by arranging relay lens systems 34 and 33 behind the two optical systems of the direct-viewing objective optical system 32 and the side-viewing objective optical system 31 similar to the second embodiment. As a result, on the image pickup surface of the CCD 35, the optical images 37 and 36 of the region to be examined captured by the direct-viewing objective optical system 32 and the side-viewing objective optical system 31 are front images and the erect image 3 is formed.
Images are formed in the states of 7'and 36 '. Therefore, when the optical image formed on the image pickup surface of the CCD 35 via each objective optical system is displayed on the TV monitor, it is possible to display all at once without performing any special electrical correction processing by the signal processing device. Will be possible.

As described above, the optical images of the region to be inspected are displayed behind the direct-viewing objective optical system and the side-viewing objective optical system, respectively.
Moreover, by arranging the relay lens system configured to form an image in an erect image, the positional relationship and the sense of direction between the site to be examined and the endoscopic observation image can be matched without performing complicated electrical processing. Can be made. As a result, the electric circuit of the signal processing device can be further simplified and the cost of the endoscope device can be reduced.

Although the CCD is generally provided with a cover glass for the purpose of protecting the image pickup surface, an optical image obtained by a plurality of objective optical systems is formed on the image pickup surface of one solid-state image pickup device. When forming an image, there is a problem in that the edges around the image on the image pickup surface of the CCD are blurred, making it difficult to see. For this reason, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, a visual field mask is installed at the primary image forming point I1 so that the visual field shape with no blur is the secondary image forming point I2.
The image is projected on the image pickup surface of 35 to obtain a good endoscopic observation image, and the inspection property is improved.

[Additional Notes] According to the above-described embodiment of the present invention described in detail above, the following configuration can be obtained.

(1) A plurality of objective optical systems having mutually different visual field directions and one solid-state image pickup device on which an optical image of a site to be examined captured by the plurality of objective optical systems is formed are arranged on the distal end side of the insertion portion. In the installed endoscope, each objective optical system is configured to form an optical image of the site to be examined on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup device, and a plurality of images are formed on the solid-state image pickup device. An endoscope that simultaneously displays the image of the image on the output device.

(2) The endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein the number of reflections by the reflecting surface provided inside the objective optical system is even.

(3) The endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein the observation fields of the plurality of objective optical systems have field overlapping parts which overlap each other.

(4) The endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein the plurality of objective optical systems is two, one of which is a direct-viewing objective optical system and the other of which is an upper-viewing objective optical system.

(5) The endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein the plurality of objective optical systems are two, one of which is a direct-viewing objective optical system and the other of which is a side-viewing objective optical system.

(6) The endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein the plurality of objective optical systems is two, one of which is a direct-viewing objective optical system and the other of which is a perspective objective optical system.

(7) The endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein the plurality of objective optical systems are two side-viewing objective optical systems.

(8) The endoscope according to appendix 1 or 2, wherein the reflecting surface of the objective optical system is reflected twice.

(9) The endoscope according to appendix 1 or 2, wherein the objective optical system has at least one relay optical system.

[0051]

As described above, according to the endoscope of the present invention, the optical image of the region to be inspected captured by the plurality of objective optical systems having different visual field directions can be easily observed and accurately displayed on the imaging device. It is possible to provide an endoscope capable of doing so.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 7 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of an endoscope.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of part A of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram when viewed from the arrow X side in FIG.

4 is a diagram when viewed from the arrow Y side of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a layout of a direct-viewing objective optical system and an upward-viewing objective optical system.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the configuration of an upper-view objective optical system.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram specifically showing the operation of the endoscope.

8 to 11 relate to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a distal end side of an insertion portion of an endoscope.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram of forming an image of a test site on an image pickup surface of a CCD through an objective optical system.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state of an optical image formed on an image pickup surface of a CCD and a display state on a TV monitor.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram specifically showing the operation of the endoscope.

FIG. 12 is another conceptual diagram of forming an image of a test region according to the third embodiment of the present invention on an image pickup surface of a CCD through an objective optical system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 13 ... Side view objective optical system 15 ... CCD 16 ... Prism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of objective optical systems having different visual field directions, and one solid-state image pickup device on which an optical image of a region to be examined captured by the plurality of objective optical systems is formed are provided at a distal end side of an insertion portion. In the endoscope described above, each objective optical system is configured to form an optical image of the site to be examined on the image pickup surface of the solid-state image pickup device, and a plurality of images formed on the solid-state image pickup device are formed. An endoscope characterized in that a display image is simultaneously displayed on an output device.